The following honors designations are available for use in the course catalog and at the class section level
Honors Only Courses
Symbols/Designations: H, HON
Characteristics:
- Reserved for undergraduate students declared in an honors program.
- Small courses (usually 20 students or fewer) or special discussion sections, facilitated by a faculty member and attached to a larger class.
- Taught by a faculty member who is an expert in the subject matter of the course.
- Designed to challenge students to actively participate; hence, the course content is often shaped by student questions and interests.
- Interactive discussion and learning rather than passive experiences (e.g., listening and note-taking).
- The enrollment system automatically assigns honors to students who successfully complete the course.
Accelerated Honors
Symbols/Designations: !, HOP
Characteristics:
- Open to both honors and non-honors students.
- Accelerated courses that award honors credit in recognition of the amount and rigor of material covered in the course within the context of the undergraduate curriculum.
- Often designed to combine two semesters of material into one semester and therefore taken as part of a well-balanced schedule and in consultation with an academic advisor.
- The enrollment system automatically assigns honors to students who successfully complete the course.
Honors Optional
Symbols/Designations: %, HIA
Characteristics:
- Open to both honors and non-honors students. Regular courses with an optional honors component available to undergraduate students.
- The optional honors component of work is designed to facilitate in-depth, student-driven learning and enrich the student’s experience. Examples include an individual or non-traditional project, paper, or problem set, creative writing, media project, or a performance/presentation.
- It is extremely rare for the honors optional designation to be applied to a course at the catalog level. This type of honors course is dependent on the instructor of the class section and as such is not applicable to every course offering.
In all cases, to count toward honors requirements, students must earn a grade of B or higher in a course that carries one of these honors designations.
Approval of Accelerated Honors and Honors-Only course designations at the catalog level is part of the course proposal process.
If these honors course designations are to be applied at the section level to a specific offering of the course in each semester, oversight is the responsibility of the school/college honors program and is added each semester in the process of developing the Schedule of Classes.
